It's a fascinating moment for the German economy. A new government is in place, and Germany plans to dramatically increase its spending on defense. Meanwhile, U.S. tariffs could have a significant impact on the world's third largest exporter. So what's ahead for Germany and how are investors and business leaders making sense of this historic moment. I'm Allison Nathan, and this is

Goldman Sachs Exchanges. Today I'm sitting down with Wolfgang Fink, the head of Goldman Sachs's

Germany and Austria businesses. Wolfgang, thanks for joining us today. Great to see you again,

Addison. It's very nice to have you, actually, in New York the last time we did this. I think you were in Europe and I was here, so it's great to have you in person.

So Wolfgang, as I just said, our listeners may be aware that there is a new German government.

It's been in place for a month or so.

What has that meant for the business environment?

Well, I think the government that is now in place and actively working is quite a change.

They call themselves a working coalition, and they want to tackle many of the problems, some

more structural long term, some more short term, that the country faces.

Among them, importantly, the infrastructure of the country, and lots have been written about

that.

The defense, in light of the war we have in Europe, strengthen the defense capabilities

of the country, and also Europe and NATO in particular as to the European part.

The other parts are clearly for a country to regain its competitiveness on the economic side

with many of the issues there.

And European alignment, a big part is European alignment making Germany strong again in Europe

and a force for good in some country you can count on.

And lastly, tackle some of the migration issues that have, as in so many countries in Europe,

been on the forefront of many electoral campaigns.

And that's a, it's another priority that they want to tactfully.

So then in a nutshell, it's a program.

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